


Magic Unknown

by MWolfe13



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Circus, Creatures, Discrimination, F/M, Murder, darker themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:28:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26244919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MWolfe13/pseuds/MWolfe13
Summary: Magic has come out to the world, but it doesn't go as smoothly as everyone hoped. The discovery of dead bodies is one more thing in a pot ready to blow.  Hermione is sent to solve these murders while Clint has been ordered to watch her. Their distrust in each other is obvious. Can they put aside their differences in order to find the killer before the tension between their people blows?
Relationships: Clint Barton/Hermione Granger
Comments: 5
Kudos: 30
Collections: Marvelously Magical Mini Bang 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the first chapter of Magic Unkown! This story was written for Marvelously Marvel's MiniBang. Thank you to the admin for putting on this event!
> 
> Huge shout out to my awesome Beta S.Joan and Artist thescarletphoenixx. They rock!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Marvel! I'm simply playing in my favorite sandbox.

As Muggle technology advanced, it became harder for the magical community to stay hidden. Some would say it was the fault of those _born_ to Muggles, at least in Wizarding Britain. They had records of their existence up until they left to complete their magical education. Some had argued for years following the Second Wizarding War that someone was bound to notice the pattern. Someone would go digging. That was just in the UK. In other places, there were different problems, but it all translated to the same thing. Their time under the umbrella of the Statute of Secrecy was coming to an end.

The ICW held a conference with every Minister in attendance, but it wasn’t to discuss the problem at hand. No, the International Confederation of Wizards had already made their decision. This gathering of leaders was simply the fastest way for the announcement to go out. Under careful selection, the magical community would reveal themselves to the Muggles. It was a partial repeal of the Statute of Secrecy. Every government was expected to cooperate, their compliance mandatory.

It started with a Healer who worked with Doctors Without Borders. She had a special affinity for healing magic, and the ICW orchestrated her exposure to paint her in the best possible light. Not everyone believed the claims that she could heal cut and scrapes with a flick of her wand, or mend bones with a magic potion. The locals in poorer countries believed, but the word soon died down and the world moved onto the next big scandal. But some people watched, believing she was not a genetic anomaly. 

Then came the Wizard Firefighter who saved the residents trapped in a high-profile hotel. No one knew how the fire started or why only his station responded. What the media caught was him using his magic to multiply the amount of water the Firetruck had before running in and bringing every person who’d been trapped inside out, alive. The newspapers were full of him for weeks; calling him a hero, the people urging the city to give him a commendation. The survivors were interviewed and they told tales of him levitating fallen pieces of furniture, of him creating pockets of clean air for them to breathe. 

His deeds stayed on the forefront of everyone’s minds for months, and those that paid attention before did so again. The public fell in love with the idea of magic as more and more people came out; doctors, police, teachers, and so much more. They were shown the best side of magic, where ordinary people lived their lives while putting their gifts to good use. Those in charge didn’t wear the same blinders ordinary people did. They took in these people, watched their deeds while waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It did almost two years later. Someone tried to abduct a small child from a mall, a magical child. The abductors didn’t know he was magical but the entire world knew after, in a fit of panicked magic, the child blew a chunk of the mall up. He was fine, unharmed by his own magic, but the same couldn’t be said for the people in the five stores closest to the back service exit. There was an outpour of sympathy for the little one, his frightened face plastered on every front page, but there was also an undercurrent of fear. 

If a child could do this accidentally, what would a fully grown person do on purpose?

The answer came a few months later when a group of teenage Wizards experimented on a beach during vacation. They wanted to see how much they could cause the tides to change with magic, how big the waves would get if they all concentrated together. The results were their loss of control as the rising water became too much for them to handle. It was a mass panic of normal people trying to get away from the huge wave coming towards them, a few brave souls taking video of the havoc magic had caused. 

It went back and forth after that. For every good deed the people saw, a destructive one took its place. The ICW had closed meetings with government officials, attended public events for nothing but political exposure. It was a fine balance they held onto, a tight line that was constantly swaying from one end to the other. The public split into three factions; those that supported them, those that opposed them, and those that simply didn’t care. The media went with the tide, often switching sides at the latest story that made it to their ears. 

The Healer transferred to a magical hospital and the Firefighter was let go. 

Soon, places of employment were asking people who applied if they had magic or had family members with magic. Housing places like apartments followed next, adding an extra fee for magical residents because of their destructive capabilities. This was considered illegal, but no one looked too hard at these places or reprimanded them. On the flip side, certain places _only_ accepted magical employees. Some entrepreneurs saw the possibilities soar with Witches and Wizards as the main attraction. 

Much of the magical communities remained hidden from the world. No one knew about the magic schools or the entire cities hidden in plain sight. The governing bodies weren’t made aware that there were far more Witches and Wizards out there than they thought. Absolutely no Muggle realized that there were plenty more magical beings in the world. They only saw a fraction of what was out there, a partial look into a room filled with the impossible. 

The way things were going, they probably never would.

Life went on in this new, uncertain time, but the wheels of politics never stopped turning. Arguments came and went, dinners were held. A few laws were proposed that the ICW worked viciously to tear down. It worked that no truly heinous crime had been committed on their end yet, not any that could be traced back to magic. They’d been firm with the Ministries around the world about keeping a tight hold on their people. The darker side of magic needed to stay hidden at all costs. It gave the Muggles no leg to stand on in the end. 

Then the first body showed up. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge shout out to my awesome Beta S.Joan and Artist thescarletphoenixx!

Hermione accepted the cup of tea with a small smile of thanks, and used her time drinking it to contemplate why she was here.

Using the same buildings as the United Nations, the ICW was mainly headquartered in the United States. Hermione had only been here a handful of times, only able to stand the liveliness of New York for short periods of time. The trips had always been as the chosen representative of the British Ministry, so she’d come to know this building quite well. This was also the place she’d gotten so frustrated with the ICW that she’d handed a rare-attending Kingsley her verbal resignation in front of a dozen other Minister’s.

It hadn’t been her finest moment, she’d admit, but she’d never regretted leaving a position she felt was no good in the first place. What was the point in being known as the person to go to for Muggle issues if no one would listen to her advice? She’d refused to stay where she wasn’t making a difference, and her life had been so much better for it.

So why did she accept Kingsley’s plea to meet in New York for a meeting?

Things between her and Kingsley had been understandably tense since she’d left. Their easy friendship had turned into stiff politeness. She couldn’t blame him for his distance. The ICW had been putting pressure on the Ministries for a while, and Hermione had effectively left him alone with all the stress and political strife. Due to their fall out, the letter he’d sent had been diplomatically worded. Yet she’d read beneath the lines, and recognized restrained desperation in his carefully written words.

Something big was happening. It was worrying enough that he risked bringing her back here to embarrass-Thank you, Rita-Wizarding Britain once more. 

Hermione sighed when a door opened and Kingsley came into view, followed by MACUSA’s President. They were talking in low voices, but stress lines filled his face, his frown deeper than usual. That was why she’d come despite her reservations. Kingsley was still someone she’d fought a war with, a man she’d known would take a curse for her without hesitation. If he needed help, she’d give it to him, no matter their current friction.

Kingsley abruptly looked up, giving her a strained smile as he crossed over to her. “Hermione, it’s good to see you.”

They both knew he truly didn’t mean it. “You as well.” The lie escaped her lips easily, and her heart clenched because at one point both statements would have been true. She turned to the woman watching them silently, dipping her head in acknowledgment. “Madam President, I didn’t know I would be meeting you today as well.”

President Joesphine Williams was known to be to the point, some would say too blunt for politics. She displayed that attitude now, nodding curtly before moving to the table Hermione had been seated at. “Miss Granger, we’re glad you could make it. The other Minister’s were going to leave this to Minister Shacklebolt as you’re a citizen of Wizarding Britain, but what we’re about to disclose is too sensitive for bad feelings to mess up.” She gave them a sharp smile. “I volunteered to ensure today’s meeting went as planned.”

She was there to make sure Hermione and Kingsley talked without one storming out of the building, or the conversation devolving into bitter arguments. Hermione deduced the meaning in her words and assumed she was correct when Kingsley’s mouth tightened just a bit. Her back, already straight in the chair she was seated in, stiffened a bit further. Now Hermione knew something was wrong. The ICW, for all their meddling in world affairs, tended not to get involved in the business of individual countries. Their inaction during the Second Wizarding War proved that. 

Hermione focused her attention on Kingsley, her mind racing to remember if she’d read or heard anything recently that would require Britain’s involvement. “I’m here, Minister. What was it you wished to speak about?” She wanted to wince as soon as the words left her mouth. They’d dropped titles long ago. The last time she’d called him by his rank had been out of spite, angered words flying through the air in the heat of the moment.

He evidently remembered that as well, his eyes flashing once before they were back to cordial. “In your previous role with the Ministry, you were privy to the plan of action the ICW presented for revealing our world to the Muggle communities.”

She struggled to keep her face pleasant though she was sure she failed. It was no secret that she disapproved of the steps they’d taken to gradually dissolve the Statute of Secrecy. Hermione had been so excited when it had been brought to her attention that they were planning to introduce magic publicly into the world once again. For so long, trying to coexist between two worlds had been hard. For some, it had been impossible. Hermione had been the victim of a strained relationship with her extended family, because of what she couldn’t tell them. 

Then the intricacies of the plan had been revealed, and Hermione knew it would be a disaster. They’d planned to create instances where magic could be shown in a good light. Release a magical born virus into a community of Muggles, so only a Healer could find the cure. Give a burglar a magical boost so that he could evade the Muggle authorities, only to be eventually captured by the use of magic. Then there was the entire building set on fire by some well placed  _ Incendios _ near a fire station with a Firefighter that happened to be a Wizard. Those were few on the list of events the ICW had purposefully manipulated to show magic in a good light.

The eerie feeling of wrong stuck with Hermione for days after hearing their intentions. She’d protested to deaf ears, her recommendations dismissed because they weren’t guaranteed to work. 

Of course, every Wizarding citizen couldn’t be watched at all times. General teenage mischief could have been treated with a lecture and a fine  _ if _ the whole thing hadn’t been caught on camera. No one could have predicted that a child with no history of magic in their family would blow up everything around him to get away from his kidnappers. MACUSA had come down hard on the drunken Witch who’d used her magic to throw her cheating lover out of their flat in a fit of rage, but the damage had been done. 

Hermione had left without a backward glance long before the consequences of the ICW’s decisions came back on everyone. Still, she had a foot in both worlds and she knew in some areas things were becoming worse with no sign of getting better. She had no idea why they were bringing this up with her, but the fact that she’d been requested for an official meeting kept her on edge. “I haven’t violated the confidentiality clause that came with my position,” she said carefully, but she couldn’t keep the defensive edge that crept into her voice. 

“No one’s accusing you of anything, Miss Granger.” Kingsley’s tone reacted to hers, matching defense for defense. 

President Williams grimaced. “Minister.”

They settled back into their seats, neither realizing they’d gotten closer to the edge. Hermione grabbed her tea in order to try and settle, mindful of Kingsley breathing steadily as he fixed his eyes on a point above her head. “My apologies,” he said after a bit of silence. “We know you haven’t done anything wrong. You’re aware of the careful politics involved in revealing ourselves publicly, and the strides the ICW has made to keep us in a positive light.”

Hermione opened her mouth, reconsidered the words she was going to say, and continued to sip her drink instead. 

“As you know before your...resignation, certain incidents outside Ministry control appeared everywhere Muggles get their news. These have had consequences for those of you that choose to live in the Muggle world. You also know there have been attempts on the ICW’s end to keep the Muggles from meddling in our affairs.”

President Williams sighed, Hermione catching the not-so-hidden eye roll from the corner of her eye. “We’re failing, Miss Granger. That is what Minister Shacklbolt is building up to. The Muggle governments don’t trust us, and the political climate is starting to turn against us.”

Hermione set her cup down at those words. “Turn against us how?

“The few friends we have on the inside have blocked several attempts to bring us under Muggle control. Just last week, there was talk in the American government of whether we really are human and if not, would citizenship apply to us.” President Williams nodded at Hermione’s horrified face. “This is just one of the debates happening around us. Already, you’re seeing the discrimination starting to happen.”

Hermione’s fists balled on her lap, her eyes lowered to the whitening knuckles. “At this point, revealing any more of our world would end in disaster. We may be human, but there are plenty of magical creatures that aren’t.”

“It’s too late to reenact the Statute of Secrecy,” Kingsley said softly. “Other countries want to go back into hiding, but we know the time for that has passed. We can halt revealing anything more, but to disappear completely would drive them to find us.” He sighed, his eyes meeting hers as he leaned forward in his chair. “Now, all we can do is work to make them accept us with what we’ve shown now. Some of the Bills we’re hearing about can’t be made into laws, not if we ever want to coexist with Muggles.”

Suddenly, Hermione could see how deeply tired Kingsley was. It wasn’t just stress, but genuine fatigue. It reminded her of when he’d first taken the oath as Minister directly following the Battle of Hogwarts. He’d worked himself to the ground then too, as he was no doubt doing now. She wondered why no one was making sure he took care of himself.

Then she remembered it was  _ her _ who’d seen the signs the first time and took it upon herself to help him. She’d done it for years up until their public fight in this very building. 

She relaxed a bit in her seat, guilt eating away at her when she replied, “How can I help, Kingsley? I don’t have political ties to the Muggle world.”

“We don’t want you in the political arena.” Kingsley’s words were quick on the response. Hermione lifted a brow, and his eyes warmed by a fraction. “I mean no offense, Hermione, but we have the government courting handled as well as it can be.” He cleared his throat. “What we need from you is more of a sensitive nature.”

President Williams waved her hand with a small flourish, a pile of folders appearing out of thin air a moment later. She passed them to Hermione with a word of warning. “What we speak about today is to be kept confidential, Miss Granger. Even if you choose not to help us, this must not spread to the public.”

Hermione didn’t open them, choosing to put them on the table instead. “Why don’t you tell me what this is about before I look at them?”

“Don’t want to devour all the information?” Kingsley asked, a hint of amusement on his face.

She shrugged, struggling to word her response so that the slight melting of their cold attitude didn’t freeze again. “I’ve moved onto other avenues of work since leaving the Ministry.” She gave him a small smile. “I don’t want to be pulled in before hearing everything entailed.”

Kingsley accepted the answer with a short nod, his fingers tangled in front of him as he leaned forward. “Over the last few months we’ve discovered there have been Muggle murders, a lot of them. They started in France, working their way through Britain, and now they are here in the States. Unfortunately, most of the bodies were found by Muggle authorities.” His lips twisted in aversion. “There was no obvious sign of trauma to the bodies. Their hearts simply stopped working. Most are younger adults with no previous health issues that would result in a sudden heart attack.”

Hermione pursed her lips at the implication. “The Killing Curse.”

“Unfortunately not,” President Willaims replied. “We’d thought so too, but the revealing spell came back empty. No spell did this, though there is something magical about the deaths. We could get that much.”

“We’ve been able say no Witch or Wizard did this, that no spell was used to kill these Muggles.” Kingsley shrugged. “But the circumstances are too suspicious for the Muggles to accept our words easily.”

Hermione nodded. “They aren’t stupid.”

“We know,” President Williams responded dryly. “Which is why we had to concede that there was something weird about the deaths. They aren’t willing to let us off the hook just yet, but confirming one of us did this could potentially be the breaking point between those laws being pushed forward or forgotten entirely.”

Kingsley jerked his head in the direction of the folders. “Open the first one.”

Despite the desire not to, Hermione did as he bade. It was the slimmest one of the bunch, containing a few sheets of paper. “Cirque des Merveilles." Circus of Wonders. “A circus?”

“As the name implies, they advertise themselves as a performing troupe with genetic mutations,” President Williams said. “Despite their definition of entertainment being outlawed for years in the Muggle world, they still travel around the world. They have been in every location a Muggle body was found.”

Kingsley leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. “We believe there is magic involved with this circus, considering they’re welcome everywhere despite what they advertise.”

Hermione realized as she looked through the few sheets of paper in the file that they were all coordinates, separate but enough to fill the pages. Just how many deaths had there been? “It’s a leap,” she conceded. “But you have to start somewhere.”

“We already have. We’ve sent in Auror’s, most trained in undercover work. They were found out immediately and sent packing, forcefully.”

She sighed, “Kingsley, you know as well as I do that our people aren’t the most open minded of individuals. If there is magic involved with this circus, they probably have a valid reason for not trusting the Auror’s. What you have is circumstantial.” She started to chew on her lip, looking between the two officials. “I’m still not sure what this has to do with me.”

“The deaths are becoming a bone of contention, and if they aren’t solved soon, it might not matter if we prove it had nothing to do with magic.” Kingsley shook his head. “The Muggles are sending in someone to investigate since our attempts have failed so far. We can’t take the chance they won’t plant evidence to incriminate or it actually be something from our world, and we aren’t there to take care of it.” His eyes met hers again, his face conveying the seriousness of his words. And Hermione knew then and there what he was going to ask of her. “We need someone who can clear our name while keeping the Muggle agent in line.”

She was already shaking her head before he’d finished speaking. “I’m not an Auror.”

“We tried Auror’s. We don’t need an Auror.”

Before she could open her mouth again, President Williams held up a hand. “Miss Granger, we need someone who can hold their own without being trained in an official capacity. We think these people are adept at recognizing any signs someone is an Auror, and that’s half the problem. We also need someone who can blend in as a Muggle. We’d prefer it be someone we can trust, someone who’s proven themselves.” She inclined her head. “In three nations, you are the only one that fits the bill that has the intelligence to solve these murders quickly.”

Trust. Hermione didn’t take her eyes off Kingsley, trying to discern the truth in those words. The only person of the three leaders who would vouch for her based on trust alone would be him. After their fight, Hermione hadn’t been sure she’d lost that connection with him. She used to think nothing could come between people who’d fought together, but politics had a way of sowing doubt and reaping the benefits. 

But if he still trusted her…

Making her decision, Hermione let out a long breath. “What exactly is it that you’re asking me to do?”

**Author's Note:**

> Check me out on Tumblr and Twitter: MWolfe13


End file.
